


P is for Protected

by Sunshinegrimes



Series: Letters from Hell's Kitchen [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuddles, Danny is supportive, Domestic Defenders, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Everyone is Poly because Defenders, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Matt Murdock, Luke gives the best hugs, M/M, Multi, Nightmares, Poly, Poly Defenders, Polyamorous Relationships, Polyamory, Recovery, SO MUCH FLUFF, Spoilers For The Defenders, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and Jessica has a semi decent bedside manner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 08:43:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12032283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunshinegrimes/pseuds/Sunshinegrimes
Summary: Part 2 of my Poly Defenders series. Set after the events of the show.----"Thanks to The Hand, we didn’t get off to the best of starts. But then things changed so fast. We were down there so long, moving all that rubble. The three of us, we were tired, sweating like hell. The suits wanted us to give up, on the third day. They said no one could ever survive something like that. They told us to leave so many times.” Luke’s voice grew deeper, and his grip on Matt tightened a fraction. “But we never gave up, and as soon as we pulled you out of that rubble, I knew we weren’t ever gonna be separated again.”In which Matt recovers from the Midland Circle incident, while the Defenders grow closer together.----*SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE SEASON*





	P is for Protected

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 of my Poly Defenders series (Matt/Luke)
> 
> In this series, Matt was rescued from the rubble at the end of the incident at Midland Circle. Months later, the Defenders are now in a happy, polyamorous relationship. Each chapter will explore a different facet of their new lives together.
> 
> This piece is mostly set during Matt's initial recovery, I hope you enjoy it! :)

 

Matt still had nightmares about Midland Circle. 

The narrative was always the same.

No one was coming back for him, and no one ever would.

He would try to escape. Matt had always been a survivor, a _"pick up what's left and try again"_ sort of man. Usually, that sort of sentiment applied to one's daily life: a breakup, losing a job, getting into an accident. Matt also applied the same principle to his body, to his life, to _Elektra_ , with harrowing consequences.

Tonight, his dreams had painted a vivid picture of those consequences. He would wake, cold, alone, to the sound of a faint air current whistling through the rubble. The remains of Midland Circle sat above him, large, precarious and suspended over his head like a guillotine. 

Not wanting to leave things to fate, Matt would begin to climb, following the sound of that weak current. It was his best and only option, and he would have a long way to go. The lack of oxygen was making his head spin, but the closer he got to the surface, the better chance he had of staying alive.

It was terribly disorienting. The rubble was sharp in places, and slippery in others. Sometimes, glass littered the crevices he crawled and squeezed through, stinging his skin and making his already aching muscles worse. Above him, the rubble was utterly silent, except for the occasional loud groan that that ripped through the entire structure and brought dust down to choke his lungs. When that happened, his heart raced, and he balled himself up as much as he could until the storm of screeching metal and concrete had passed. He had no idea how far he had come so far, but he had to press on, the rest could fall any minute now.

Some nights he would get further than others.

Inevitably, it would always fall. 

 

Some nights, he would wake, screaming, the phantom agony of his body being crushed by concrete, or worse, still coursing through his body. Other times, he would lay prone, trembling through the aftershocks and soaked with sweat. The worst nights were the ones he would come rushing into consciousness, not only to the smell of perspiration, but the nauseous, shameful odour of urine.

Tonight, mercifully, wasn’t one of those nights. He woke up, gasping for air through his mouth, his lungs burning and his heart beating hard enough to hurt. As the adrenaline wore off, he gradually became aware of a solid warmth under his cheek. _Luke_.

“Hey baby. Another rough night?” A warm hand pressed between his shoulder blades, rubbing slowly up and down. Luke’s other arm was wrapped around his middle, and his pulse was steady, low against Matt’s ear. Matt couldn’t speak yet, half of his mind still under Midland Circle, and the other half struggling into wakefulness. Needing to be grounded, he turned his attention to Luke’s breathing instead, rising and falling like the ocean tide. “It’s okay, Matt... you’re fine, you’re at home. You’re _safe_.” Luke’s voice was deep, heavy from sleep, but it felt like a balm for his weary body. Luke was strong, he would keep the world from falling on his head.

 

When he had first woken up in his apartment, five months ago, Luke had been there, holding him steady against his side. The fabric of his hoodie had been warm under Matt’s cheek, and the muscular expanse of his chest underneath felt immovable, like a mountain. Matt had been dimly aware of an IV in his arm, and a crisscross of bandages and dressings tugging at his bruised, battered body. Matt hadn’t stayed awake for long, slipping back into welcoming unconsciousness almost a minute after, but the last thing he recalled was a firm, grounding hand, the thumb rubbing circles into his sore knuckles.

The next time he woke, he hurt a little less. Luke was still by his side, talking quietly, but Matt couldn’t quite make out the words. He heard Danny’s voice nearby, a strained whisper, and Jessica’s slow, rolling tone in response. He didn’t know how long it had been, but the IV was still in his arm, and someone had changed his dressings.

He tried to sleep as much as possible. His surroundings were starting to make more sense, each time he woke, and it meant he could sleep through the worst of the immense pain his body was currently experiencing. Some things changed, like his clothes, his dressings, his location, which seemed to alternate between his bed and the sofa. What remained constant, was that Luke would always be there, letting Matt curl up against him for support, or simply rubbing his back, shoulders or hands.

The ninth or tenth time he woke up, Matt stirred his way into consciousness to the sound of voices in his kitchen. It was Danny, and Jessica, keeping their voices low, presumably so they wouldn’t wake him. They were arguing.

“Look,” Jessica sounded exasperated, weary. “It’s not your fault, Danny, he told us to go, all of us.”

“He could have died, Jessica. I abandoned him to die.”

“You didn’t abandon shit. He didn’t want to leave, so he made sure we could. Jesus, stop making everything your problem, do you really think Matt would want you to beat yourself up about it?”

There was a pause, before Danny’s voice came quieter, tighter.

“I just can’t stand it, seeing him like that.”

“I know, me too.”

Despite his straining to hear their argument, Matt must have fallen asleep again, because the next time he woke up, the world felt a little clearer. Luke was reading next to him, the quiet, shushing sound of pages turning an irregular punctuation, around the steady drum of his heart. He was curled in bed, his hand wrapped in one of Luke’s larger ones and the silk sheets tucked around him.

“Luke?” He slurred out, his mouth feeling dry, his tongue heavy and clumsy in his mouth. He felt as though he had swallowed a mouthful of sand, and his head was pounding faintly.

“Hey.” Luke’s voice was a deep, relieved rumble, and Matt heard the other man dog ear one of the pages, and place the book carefully on the bedside. “How’re you feeling?”

“Sore.” Matt breathed the word out. He wanted to sit up, but his worn muscles weren’t cooperating. He heard Luke give a small, sympathetic laugh, before leaning towards the bedside table again and retrieving something.

“You want something to drink?” Luke offered, and Matt could only let out a croaked sound of agreement. A straw was placed against his lips, and he managed to wrap them carefully around the plastic to take the barest of sips. The water tasted fantastic, and he took a moment to weigh it on his tongue, before drawing another sip, then another. He frowned as the straw was removed, one of Luke’s hands gently squeezing his shoulder.

“Take it slow, it’s been a while since you had something to drink.”

Matt nodded, a small dip of his chin, and tried to push the muddle of thoughts in his brain into a coherent sentence. His brain felt like it was made of mush, but at least his mouth felt a little less dry.

“How long?” He rasped out after a minute, thankful when Luke let him have a little more water.

“You were in the rubble for three days. You’ve been in and out of sleep for four.”

Matt’s head spun at that answer. The knowledge that an entire week had passed since the incident at Midland Circle made him feel scared, and relieved all at once. It was evident, given the faint sounds of the busy city outside, that the world had not ended whilst he was buried alive, but he couldn’t help feeling anxious about the future. They had warded off The Hand for now, but what was stopping them from regrouping whilst he was in his current state?

Luke must have sensed his distress, because the hand on his shoulder began to rub in careful circles, helping him to calm down.

“Hey, it’s alright. Calm down. Jess and Danny are out looking after things right now, okay? You just get your strength back.”

 

It would prove to be days before he could stay awake longer than a few hours at most. In that time, he saw more Jessica, and Danny. The two appeared to have sorted out their differences from their earlier spat, and gradually took over watching over Matt when Luke needed a break. Luke wouldn’t say so, he wouldn’t complain, but they all knew his constant vigilance was starting to wear him out. One evening, when Matt had managed to keep some food and water down, Jessica came in with her laptop and all but dragged Luke from the room, protesting that he should go and get some fresh air.

“Luke. I’ve got this. _Go_.” She shooed him from the room, sitting up against the headboard and stretched her legs out next to Matt’s tucked up form.

“Hey Jess.” Matt inched his way up the bed a little, listening to the quiet tapping of Jessica’s fingers on the keys. “Are you doing alright?”

“Yeah, just working on that missing person’s case.”

“The clown?” Matt struggled to remember, a smile tugged at his lips when Jessica let out a small sigh.

“Ugh, yeah. You’d think a guy addicted to dressing as a clown would stick out like a sore thumb, but clearly New York’s so full of weird shit that no one’s seen him.”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Matt nuzzled into his pillow, Jessica’s dry sense of humour always made him feel more at ease. The first time he had woken up from a nightmare, to find her by his side instead of Luke, he had initially felt uncomfortable. To his surprise, Jessica had listened, not interrupting him or changing the subject as he recalled his most recent nightmare. When he had talked himself into exhaustion, Jessica had offered to make him some coffee, and Matt had had to decline politely. Claire had visited earlier that day to check on him, and had encouraged him to keep himself as hydrated with water as possible. Jessica let him be after that, not fussing him or asking him endless tiring questions. They both knew her bedside manner was a work in progress, and Matt was grateful to her, knowing she was trying her best.

“Have the others been helping?” Matt could hear Danny, asleep in the living room. Luke was on his way out, zipping his hoodie up and tying his shoelaces.

“Yeah, in between fixing the rest of the city.” Matt had felt guilt stir in his chest at her words. While he had been relaxing, being lazy, New York was struggling to pull itself together. “ _Relax_ , Murdock. I’m sure Luke and Danny will leave you something to do.”

“It’s not fair.” Matt had protested quietly, feeling frustrated at the limitations of his own body. He was weak, and lounging in bed like this didn’t help anyone.

“Do you even have it in you, to go one day without feeling some sort of altruistic, crazy desire to help everyone on Earth?” Jessica had paused in typing to look at him. She sounded sarcastic, but Matt could hear the concern in her voice. It softened her words, and warmed Matt’s heart a little, not that he would tell her that. He was quite well on the road to recovery, and didn’t want any setbacks, thank you very much.

“No, not really.” He hummed in response, and reached up to itch his stubble, which had been growing into the beginnings of a rather impressive beard. Jessica had commented on it yesterday, of course, saying any longer and he’d be ‘competing with Danny on who could look the most like a hobo’. 

“Well, take a leaf out of my book. Being selfish once in a while? It’s not a bad thing.”

“You’re not selfish, Jess.” Matt’s brows had knitted together, how could she say that about herself?

“Oh believe me, I am. Which is why, instead of busting my ass at 11:00pm trying to find Mr Creepy McClown face, I’m currently looking at cat videos.” Matt had smiled again at that, tucking the blankets up under his chin. A few minutes later, he heard Jessica take a deep breath, before she said under her breath. “I’m serious, Matt. No more incidents like Midland Circle. I’m not helping to pull you out from under another collapsed building.”

 

Danny had been more difficult to handle. He felt guilty, Matt knew that, and no amount of reassurance (and arguing from the others) would change his mind. When it was Danny’s turn to take care of him, the two listened to music together, and between getting to know each other and hip-hop music, Danny helped him to build up his strength again, body and mind. While The Hand was mostly on the back burner, Matt could spend time getting to really know his newfound friends, and was delighted to find that he and Danny had a lot of interests in common. Danny also understood his selfless drive to help others, and he disclosed (after a particularly difficult conversation), that he understood what it was like to lose one’s family.

A week after he woke up, they had been working on getting Matt to stand unassisted. Matt was still experiencing dizziness and nausea from sitting up, but he had been determined to be on his feet as soon as possible.

“Here, give me your hands. I’m not gonna let you fall, okay Matt?” Danny was stood to the side of the bed, waiting for Matt to make his first attempt at standing. “Just take your time.” He added reassuringly. Matt brought his hands up to grip Danny’s solidly, waiting a few seconds to prepare himself, before pulling himself to his feet on unsteady legs.

Matt bit back on a groan, fiery spasms of pain shooting up and down his body from his feet to his waist, and his head dropped forward to rest against Danny’s shoulder. He gripped Danny’s hands, hard, and huffed out a breath against the soft material of his shirt. “Hey…That’s it. You’re up, Matt.” Danny’s voice was warm against his hair, and Matt let out the barest of smiles. He could feel his stomach threatening to rebel, and his skull felt spongy and hot from the head rush, but he had done it.

His legs though, had other ideas. Unsteady as a fawn’s, they slowly bent, and brought him down again. True to his word, Danny didn’t let him drop down suddenly, and supported him under his arms the whole way down.

“Sorry, I’ll be fine again in a minute. I’ll try again.” Matt had sighed, disappointed in himself. He felt pathetic, like a drain on his friends. He couldn’t even stand up unassisted.

“Hey. Don’t push yourself. You’re still really busted up, Matt. Yesterday? You couldn’t stand up at all.” Danny defended him, crouched in front of him with their hands still tightly squeezed together. “You’re already ahead of Claire’s estimations. But if you push yourself too hard now, you could set yourself back days.”

“I know, Danny. I just don’t want to burden you, and Jess, and Luke.” Matt felt his eyes growing hot, and damp, his frustration boiling over.

“You’ll never be a burden, Matt. We want you to get better, that’s all that’s important to us right now. Believe me.” Matt felt Danny bring one of his hands to his chest, flattening Matt’s palm against it. Beneath his shirt, Danny’s heart was calm, slow. “I know you can tell when people are lying. So, am I?”

“No.” Matt shook his head, and took a deep, steadying breath. Danny was telling the truth, and that knowledge made his heart squeeze tightly. He could trust Danny, he could trust Jess, and Luke. They wouldn’t leave him.

“You wanna get back into bed?” Danny stood slowly, still holding onto Matt’s hands. Matt nodded, and behind Danny, Matt heard Luke’s slow, heavy footsteps approaching. He leant against the doorframe with his arms folded.

“Everything okay in here?” Luke sounded tired, and Matt could smell concrete dust clinging to his clothes.

“Yeah, I was just putting Matt to bed again. He managed to get on his feet today, for almost half a minute too.”

“That’s good, well done Matt.” Luke was smiling, Matt could hear it in his voice. “You want me to take over?”

“It’s okay, Luke. You go get some rest.” Danny reassured him, and Matt nodded his thanks to Luke. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, Danny pressed up next to him with a hand covering his own.

 

Those early days felt a lifetime ago. Now, as Matt lay draped over Luke’s chest, he couldn’t help but think back fondly over how lucky he was to have his partners. His strength gradually returned to him, and as his body healed, his relationships with them grew stronger too. They hadn’t abandoned him, they were still here to protect him, even now.

“What are you thinking about, hm?” Luke cupped a hand on the back of his head, and squeezed around his waist with the other.

“When I first woke up. You were all there for me. You saved my life.” Matt whispered, purring softly when he felt Luke’s fingers start to stroke through his hair. “I can’t thank you enough… all three of you. For everything.”

“We still are here, baby.” Luke reassured him quietly, and Matt hummed in response. “I mean, thanks to The Hand, we didn’t get off to the best of starts. But then things changed so fast. We were down there so long, moving all that rubble. The three of us, we were tired, sweating like hell. The suits wanted us to give up, on the third day. They said no one could ever survive something like that. They told us to leave so many times.” Luke’s voice grew deeper, and his grip on Matt tightened a fraction. “But we never gave up, and as soon as we pulled you out of that rubble, I knew we weren’t ever gonna be separated again."

Matt leaned up to press a kiss to Luke’s lips, curling his fingers against the other man’s shoulder for leverage. Beneath him, he felt Luke let out a heavy sigh, and Matt nuzzled a kiss onto the corner of his mouth. They settled down again, Matt feeling his eyelids growing heavy from their combined body heat and Luke’s arms around him. Despite his earlier dreams, he felt peaceful. Danny and Jess had helped to support him, and continued to defend him now. However, right from the beginning, Luke had been by his side, watching over him, vigilant, and strong. It would be a long time until the nightmares stopped, but Matt knew, with Luke, he would always feel protected.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think <3  
> Sorry for any medical inaccuracies ; v ;
> 
> I adore the concept of Poly Defenders, so if you would like to  
> share your headcannons/thoughts, you're welcome to do so  
> in the comment section down below! :)
> 
> \- SunshineGrimes


End file.
